Slow Food Singleton

17/06/2026

This Sat 20th June: our Monthly Crop Swap at Singleton Public Library foyer 9.30-10.30. How does it work? See below. Anyone is welcome!

13/06/2026

Oranges, lemons, limes, mandarins: available at our citrus rescue (photo Sat lunchtime, and by wed pm there were only small oranges and lemons left). Come and help yourself - either for free or for a coin donation to local community group Slow Food Singleton.
All details of our citrus rescue, just started, on verandah of 9 Boonal St, cnr Doyle St, Singleton at
https://www.facebook.com/slowfoodsingleton/posts/1544906090764570
We encourage you to drop off excess citrus from your trees, so that others can use them!This project will continue all through winter! Details in the post as above.

11/06/2026

🍊🍋 DO YOU HAVE EXCESS CITRUS IN YOUR GARDEN - OR- WOULD YOU LIKE SOME CITRUS FRUIT? Oranges-lemons-grapefruits-limes-mandarins-cumquats? Slow Food Singleton,a local community group, are running our annual 'Citrus rescue' through winter where you can either donate or receive citrus.
🍊🍋 TO DONATE CITRUS: drop your ripe fruit on the front verandah of 9 Boonal St, cnr Doyle St, Singleton anytime during daylight hours
🍊🍋 TO RECEIVE CITRUS: come to our verandah anytime during daylight hours and help yourself to any fruit. It's free! If the tin is out, you can choose to make a coin donation to our community group (but it's not compulsory). BYO bag if possible.
‼ Please read our notes below, esp re the STEP ACCESS to the verandah, how to donate, and how to find out when fruit is there‼

Info for DONATORS:
🍊 All fruit must be ripe - please test it before you donate! Oranges & mandarins should be sweet please - wait til after frost if need be.
🍊 Fruit must be clean, suitable & safe for human consumption, and be free of fruit fly & other contaminants. We also support pesticide /herbicide free produce.
🍊 Pls leave your fruit donations on the verandah in the containers provided, or if they're full, leave your bags

Info for RECEIVERS:
🍋 There are 3 steps from the road to the footpath (with handrail) & then 2 steps up to the verandah with NO handrail. If this is not suitable for you, please ask a friend to deliver/collect for you.
🍋Please wash fruit before consuming
🍋 We expect that the collected fruit is not on-sold. Please don't take everything and pls be mindful about how often you take fruit.

Info for EVERYONE!
🍋We cannot guarantee the presence of fruit at any particular time. We try to place comments on this post (or new posts on our page) when new fruit has arrived or gone, but note this is not a shop or market, and we are volunteers running the verandah, Facebook posts & pickings around our day to day lives & work.
🍋 We started this as a community project in 2019, with the aim of 'rescuing' Singleton area citrus from rotting in gardens - so far we have 'redistributed' hundreds of boxes of fruit and hope to continue that into the future.

🛻We also deliver donated fruit to Singleton Neighbourhood Centre Inc and Open Door and local preschools and primary schools.

🪜If you need assistance in picking your fruit (ie if you're not physically able to do so), please message us - we try to organise local volunteers to pick trees.

If you'd like to help us with the citrus rescue and/or join (only $25/yr), see our pinned post on our page and fill out the 'Jotform' found there, or message us. We also run the Monthly Crop Swap and the Seed Library at Singleton Public Library have monthly workshops/meetings, and our Singleton Edible Garden Trail will be on Sun 18 Oct.

10/06/2026

Help us tell Singleton’s story — one recipe at a time.

We’re collecting handwritten family recipes for a Local History exhibition this August.
✔️ Upload online
✔️ Or bring your recipe into the library
✔️ Originals returned safely
✔️ Part of Family History Month celebrations

Got a recipe with history? We’d love to include it.
Submit here: https://www.singleton.nsw.gov.au/food-that-made-us

Image: Eating Chinese food with chopsticks, September 1949. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

31/05/2026

What to plant in the garden in June, esp after the rain, by our friends at Slow Food Hunter Valley

June Planting Guide

We are all thankful here in the Lower Hunter, for some good and badly needed rain last week Here's some ideas for what to do in your food garden this month. June is a quieter month for planting as the days continue to shorten and the soil cools. It is the last month to plant your garlic crop, so if you haven’t got it in, do it in now. And pop in some strawberry runners while you are down there. 🍓🍓
Direct sow in the ground:
🌱 Asparagus Crowns
🌱 Broad Bean
🌱 English Spinach
🌱 Garlic - see our guide at: https://www.facebook.com/SlowFoodHunterValley/posts/3851965038223009
🌱 Lettuce (winter varieties)
🌱 Peas
🌱 Radish
🌱 Rhubarb Crowns
🌱 Snow Pea
🌱 Strawberries
🌱 Onion
Plant in seed trays:
See our tips for growing from seed https://www.facebook.com/SlowFoodHunterValley/posts/2911739518912237
🌱 Cabbage
🌱 Kale

Sustainable Gardening Australia has provided a June garden to do list, which serves as a reminder on what garden tasks to tackle right now:
☘️ Planting – to ensure your garden is producing all year round.
☘️ Herbs like chamomile, lemon grass, mint and lemon balm are all great to plant at this time of year, but you might like to plant the mint and lemon balm in pots so they don’t take over.
☘️ Feeding - Plants feel the need for a feed at this time of year. A seaweed tea or low environmental impact liquid fertiliser is perfect, especially for the new seedlings.
☘️ Weeding - Cut down the competition in your veggie patch.

Thanks to Cecily for the original June post

25/05/2026

Please note our annual citrus rescue has NOT yet begun. We will announce here on our page when it starts, and ONLY from that date will there be citrus available from our verandah in town. And from that date you will be able to drop excess citrus from your own trees to the verandah.
We’ve already had people coming to the verandah, and even encroaching onto private land to help themselves to fruit ripening on a garden tree…these trees are also NOT part of the rescue at any time. ☺️
Thanks for your understanding.

22/05/2026

A sad day for the international Slow Food movement. The founder of Slow Food International has died. Our respects from Slow Food Singleton to his family, friends and all Slow Food people and groups that he inspired from his initial actions.

Today, in the town of Bra (Italy), Carlo Petrini passed away at the age of 76.

A visionary leader and public intellectual with a profound commitment to the common good, human relationships, and the natural world, Carlo Petrini founded Slow Food, the international Terra Madre gathering, and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo. Through these initiatives, he brought to life a global movement rooted in the values of good, clean, and fair food for all, connecting communities, farmers, food artisans, cooks, activists, and young people across the world.

“Those who sow utopia reap reality” - a phrase Carlo Petrini loved to say - encapsulates his life. He firmly believed that dreams and visions, when they are just, capable of inspiring collective participation, and pursued with conviction, are not impossible to achieve.

He combined the ability to dream with a deep sense of joy and collective purpose, paving concrete paths toward social change. His work was always rooted in collaboration with others, especially younger generations, and guided by passion, empathy, and fraternity.

His energy, his determination, and his lifelong dedication to others will remain a guiding force for the entire Slow Food movement and for all those who shared his vision.

21/05/2026

Tues 26 May 6.30pm for a 7pm start: All about Slow Food International and the bi-annual 'Terra Madre' event in Italy - a free presentation and chat by Amorelle Dempster from Slow Food Hunter Valley. At Albion Park Hall, Bathurst St Singleton, next to the Singleton Community Garden. You're welcome whether or not you're a Slow Food Singleton member.
That's Amorelle on the right at a previous Terra Madre, and our previous President Sophie on the left.
RSVPs preferred - pls message us
Our regular monthly meeting will follow.
🫛🍐Also bring any garden produce you want to share/give away.
SFS members & supporters have received an email

19/05/2026

🍽️ Food tells the story of who we are.

This Family History Month, Singleton Library is creating a community exhibition of handwritten recipes — the ones passed down, smudged, folded, and loved over the years.

We’re inviting you to share a recipe from your family so we can digitise it and include it in our Local History Collection and August exhibition.

It could be a classic Sunday dinner, a holiday dish, or a recipe that simply reminds you of home. Every contribution helps preserve our shared history.

📚 Submit your recipe online or bring it into the library.
🔗 Link to the form: https://tinyurl.com/yprm9k3d

Image: Rabbit cooking, 22 January 1944. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

17/05/2026

What to plant in May, from our friends at Slow Food Hunter Valley

Oops...missed the first weekend of May again! There is still quite some warmth in that sun and the garden will power along with some added moisture and maybe, just maybe we will get a little this week. We hope you find this list of May planting and gardening tasks useful. May is the perfect time to plant more winter crops like cauliflower, cabbage, turnips, sweet ,shelling peas and onions. There's also just time to plant your garlic crop if you haven't already done so. 🙂

Direct sow in the ground:
🌱 Broad Bean
🌱 Beetroot
🌱 Chives
🌱 English Spinach
🌱 Garlic - see our recent guide at: https://www.facebook.com/SlowFoodHunterValley/posts/3851965038223009
🌱 Lettuce (winter varieties)
🌱 Parsley
🌱 Parsnip
🌱 Peas
🌱 Radish
🌱 Rocket
🌱 Silverbeet
🌱 Snow Pea
🌱 Strawberries
🌱 Turnip
🌱 Onion

Plant in seed trays:
See our tips for growing from seed https://www.facebook.com/SlowFoodHunterValley/posts/2911739518912237
🌱 Cabbage
🌱 Cauliflower
🌱 Chinese cabbage
🌱 Kale
🌱 Leek
🌱 Shallots

You might also like to see our post on tips for growing brassicas:
https://www.facebook.com/SlowFoodHunterValley/posts/3930667797019399

Sustainable Gardening Australia has provided a May garden to do list, which serves as a reminder on what garden tasks to tackle right now:
☘️ Feeding - Plants feel the need for a feed at this time of year. A seaweed tea or low environmental impact liquid fertiliser is perfect, especially for the new seedlings.
☘️ Weeding - Cut down the competition in your veggie patch.
☘️ Mulch - Helps conserve water, add organic matter to your garden and help suppress weeds. Remember to keep mulch clear of plant stems.
☘️ Water smart - Plan to water early or late in the evening, and a nice deep drink a couple of times a week is far more beneficial than a quick water.
☘️ Green manure - Consider a green manure crop to add some life and love to an overworked patch. At this time of year, try faba bean, field pea, oats and wheat. This will improve your soil incredibly, and return some nutrients that are needed for healthy vigorous growth.
☘️ Plant flowers - Some colour in the patch isn’t only pleasing to the eye, but can help us de-stress and relax. The pollinators and other good guys will love it too. Try some cornflower, calendula, dianthus, pansies, viola, snapdragons, stock, ageratum and marigolds.

It's also a great time to plant fruit trees 🌳🍎 An autumn planting allows just enough time for the roots of a fruit tree to become established before winter, and that acclimation period is extremely important. The cooler temperatures, along with it’s shorter daylight cycles help trees acclimate with less stress. For more tips on planting fruit trees see:
https://thisismygarden.com/2019/08/plant-fruit-trees/

Happy gardening!
Thank you to Cecily who wrote the original post. Legend!